Air stone for an aquarium

ABSTRACT

An air stone for an aquarium comprising an air-receiving element, a baseplate connect to the air-receiving element and a water insoluble annular-shaped fiber mat. The fiber mat contains a weight therein in concentric relation thereto and the mat is disposed intermediate the air-receiving element of the baseplate. The air stone is adapted to supply a uniform stream of air bubbles to the water contained in the aquarium when connected to an air supply. The air-receiving element further comprises an air inlet tube, an air inlet aperture located therein, a shoulder portion located at the base of the air inlet tube and a cap portion disposed at the base of the shoulder portion. The air inlet tube, the shoulder portion and the cap portion are integrally connected. The air inlet tube flares outwardly toward the base juncture with the shoulder portion so that when an air supply tube from the air supply is connected to the air inlet tube the air supply tube is held in airtight relationship therewith. The air-receiving element has a cloverleaf-shaped aperture disposed in the cap portion and extending into the shoulder portion from the face of the cap portion. The cloverleaf-shaped aperture defines three arc portions in circular relationship to each other in the central portion of the cloverleaf-shaped aperture. The baseplate comprises a cylindrical-shaped element and a cap portion integrally connected thereto with an aperture extending into the cap portion. The airreceiving element and the weight having a central aperture. The arc portions form walls. The baseplate and the fiber mat are connected by threaded screws having a tapered end which pass through the aperture in the cylindrical element and cap portion thereof. Finally the screw is thread into the walls formed by the arc portions of the cloverleaf-shaped aperture to an extent to allow the passage of air over the tapered end of the screw. The air courses downwardly through the air inlet aperture into the cloverleaf-shaped aperture and thence outwardly through the fiber mat and emerging as uniform air bubbles in the water from the periphery of the fiber mat with the result that uniform aeration of the aquarium is achieved.

United States Patent Allan H. Willinger 56 Gail Drive, New Rochelle, N.Y. 10805 [211 App]. No. 616,374

{22] Filed Feb. 15, 1967 [45] Patented Apr. 20, 1971 [72] Inventor [54] AIR STONE FOR AN AQUARIUM 5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl 239/145, 261/122, 2l0/l69,43/56, ll9/5,2l0/220 [51] 1nt.Cl B0lf3/04, A0lk63/00 [50] FieldoiSearch 261/77,

l2ll24; 210/169, 220, 221; 55/255, 256; 43/56,

Primary ExaminerRonald R. Weaver Attomey-Friedman & Goodman ABSTRACT: An air stone for an aquarium comprising an airreceiving element, a baseplate connect to the air-receiving element and a water insoluble annular-shaped fiber mat. The fiber mat contains a weight therein in concentric relation thereto and the mat is disposed intermediate the air-receiving element of the baseplate. The air stone is adapted to supply a uniform stream of air bubbles to the water contained in the aquarium when connected to an air supply. The air-receiving element further comprises an air inlet tube, an air inlet aperture located therein, a shoulder portion located at the base of the air inlet tube and a cap portion disposed at the base of the shoulder portion. The air inlet tube, the shoulder portion and the cap portion are integrally connected. The air inlet tube flares outwardly toward the base juncture with the shoulder portion so that when an air supply tube from the air supply is connected to the air inlet tube the air supply tube is held in airtight relationship therewith. The air-receiving element has a cloverleaf-shaped aperture disposed in the cap portion and extending into the shoulder portion from the face of the cap portion. The cloverleaf-shaped aperture defines three are portions in circular relationship to each other in the central portion of the cloverleaf-shaped aperture. The baseplate comprises a cylindrical-shaped element and a cap portion integrally connected thereto with an aperture extending into the cap portion. The air-receiving element and the weight having a central aperture. The are portions form walls. The baseplate and the fiber mat are connected by threaded screws having a tapered end which pass through the aperture in the cylindrical element and cap portion thereof. Finally the screw is thread into the walls formed by the arc portions of the cloverleaf-shaped aperture to an extent to allow the passage of air over the tapered end of the screw. The air courses downwardly through the air inlet aperture into the Cloverleaf-shaped aperture and thence outwardly through the fiber mat and emerging as uniform air bubbles in the water from the periphery of the fiber mat with the result that unifonn aeration of the aquarium is achieved.

xiii storm son an xotlxnrpiu BACKGROUND OF THE lNVENTlON l Field of the invention This invention relates generally to an air stone or air release for an aquarium. More particularly, the invention relates to an air stone which is adapted to supply a uniform stream of small air bubbles to an aquarium.

2. Description of the Prior A11 Aeration is one of the modern developments in aquarium usage. A small electric pump, or the like, forces the air through a tube connected to an air release at the bottom of the aquarium, sending up a spray of air bubbles. While it is commonly believed that the air is forced into the water, this is inaccurate since the air is sorbed, some from the air bubbles and the majority at the surface. The action of the rising bubbles causes a circulation of the water and in this way fresh oxygen is circulated throughout the aquarium. Aeration has been found to be advantageous in ridding the aquarium of carbon dioxide, for providing extra oxygen to water during the summer months, and for providing an aquarium with increased fish holding capacity, such as for example in a relatively small tank at home, or in the larger tanks at pet shops where many fish must be accommodated. There are a number of prior art air stones on the market, some resembling long stemmed smoking pipes, some merely being long tubes with an upturned loop at their extreme ends placed in the water. While there are a number of such air stones, as mentioned, all have the common disadvantages that they release too much air causing a turbulence at the water surface, or they release uneven streams of air bubbles causing nonuniform aeration of the water, or still further the prior art devices become clogged with dirt, algae, or similar impurities requiring their frequent replacement.

SUMMARY OF THE lNVENTlON it is, therefore, among one of the principal objectives of this invention to provide a new and improved air stone for an aquarium which will release a uniform stream of small air bubbles causing uniform aeration throughout, and which air stone will resist clogging requiring very little care and attention therefor.

in accordance with the present invention, there has now been devised a novel and improved air stone for an aquarium, said air stone being adapted to supply a uniform stream of small air bubbles to the water contained in said aquarium and comprising an air-receiving element, a baseplate connected to the air-receiving element which a suitable fiber ring-shaped mat, containing a weight therein in concentric relation thereto, being placed intermediate the said air-receiving element and baseplate.

Bl llEF DESCRllPl'lON OF THE DRAWlNG The invention will be hereinafter more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

MG. 11 is a cross-sectional elevated view of the inventive device showing all the parts thereof in detached relationship.

Fit}. 2 is a bottom plan view of the top portion of the device looking along line 2-2 of FIG. l in the direction of the arrows located near the numerals.

FlG. 3 is a cross-sectional elevated view, similar to FlG. l, except that all the parts are shown in connected relationship.

lFllG. d is an elevated view, partly in cross section, and shows the device in an aquarium water medium.

FllG. 5 is a top plan view, partly in cross section, and shows the device in the water medium as in H6. 4!.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMEODlh/ENTS Referring now to the H05. of the drawing, the novel air stone device is generally identified by the numeral lit) and comprises an air-receiving element l2, a baseplate lid, a fiber mat 16, preferably polyester fiber, a metal washer 18 acting as a weight, the fiber mat l6 and metal washer llfl being in concentric relation to one another, that is the metal washer 18 being fitted into aperture 20 of the fiber mat 16. As can be seen by referring to FIG. l the outside diameter of metal washer id is substantially equal to the diameter of the aperture 26 of the fiber mat 116, with the result that the said metal washer lh fits snugly into the aperture 20 of the said fiber mat E6. The fiber mat 116 with metal washer l8 positioned therein, referred to as the numeral 22 in H65. 3 and ll is located between the air-receivingelernent l2 and baseplate ll l.

Referring to FIG. I, it can be seen that the air-receiving element l2 comprises an air inlet tube 24 with air inlet aperture 26, a shoulder portion 28 and a cap portion 36, all integrally connected. The air inlet tube 22 is flared outwardly towards its terminus points 34 with shoulder 28, so that it is adapted to hold air supply tube 36 (connected to an electric pump supplying air, not shown) tightly in place. Air supply tube 36 is generally made of rubber or polyethylene so that when it is forced down on air inlet tube 2d it will form a tight seal therewith so that no air will escape at this juncture.

IBy referring to FlG. 2, it will be seen that three slots 3% are cut into the bottom face d0 of cap portion 30 extending into shoulder portion 22 forming a cloverleaf-shaped aperture d2 which connects with aperture 26 of air inlet tube 24. Shoulder portion 22 is substantially hexagonal in shape and slots 32 extend in the direction of three of the hexagonal comers to form the said cloverleaf-shaped aperture d2. Aperture 26 is substantially in registry with that portion of aperture 42 formed by are portions 38A. It can be seen that said arc portions 32A would define a circular aperture if lines were drawn connecting all three arc portions 32A.

Baseplate l4 (FIG, 1) comprises a cap portion 44 integrally joined to a cylindrical element 46. An aperture 48 is located in cylindrical element d6 and extends into cap portion 44 of baseplate l2, said aperture as being in central relation to said cap portion M. A threaded screw 56, passing through aperture 32 of plastic washer 5 3, is inserted into aperture 48 of baseplate lid, passes through metal washer l8 by means of aperture 6d and is threaded into the walls of the aperture provided by are portions 32A of shoulder portion 22 and bottom face d ll. Thus, as seen in FIG. 3, the entire air stone device is held in threaded and securing relation by means of the threaded screw 36 and are portions 38A on air-receiving element H2. The aperture defined by the arc portions 38A is slightly smaller than the diameter of the screw 50 and thus effectively the said screw 50 threads its own way into said arc portions 32A, after initially passing into aperture 42 by means of tapered end 62. However, it will also be noted that said tapered end 62 of screw 50 does not block aperture 26 of airreceiving element 12 for reasons subsequently to be discussed hereinbelow.

Following the operation of the air stone 10 in FIGS. 3 and 4, it will be seen that air is caused to flow into aperture 26 of air inlet tube 23 means of air supply tube 36 (connected to suitable air supply, not shown). The direction of the air flow is shown by means of arrows coursing downwardly through aperture 26. Picking up this fiow of air at P16. 3, it is seen that said air courses down aperture 26, passes over tapered end 62 of screw 5t), which tapered end 62 is free of the aperture 26, passes into aperture 22 and is forced into polyester mat 22, finally passing out of said mat 22 into the surrounding water (the remainder of the aquarium, not shown), and rises upwardly as fine air bubbles in the direction of arrows coming out of said mat 22 (FIG. 4). The cloverleaf arrangement of the slots 3% aids in the dispersement of air throughout the fiber mat 22 as can be seen by referring to FIG. 2 once again, wherein the air is uniformly dispersed outwardly in radial directions from the general center of said cloverleafshaped aperture 32. By referring to FIG. 5, it is noted that such cloverleaf arrangement of said slots 3% results in a uniform generally circular arrangement of small air bubbles 72 being caused to flow into said surrounding water 70. Thus, it can be seen that a uniform, even stream of small air bubbles is released into the water which results in a mild circulation of the water throughout the aquarium with the further result that a more uniform aeration is achieved than is known in the prior art. Air spaces or plenum 76 and 78, defined by the sloping walls 80 of bottom face and sloping inner walls 82 of cap portion 44, respectively, also aid in the dispersement of air throughout the said fiber mat 16.

The fiber mat 16, as mentioned, is preferably made of polyester fiber since this is found to be insoluble in water, which is a necessary prerequisite of the fiber mat of the invention. Any other suitable porous fiber can be employed so long as it is water insoluble and allows the passage of air therethrough. If after prolonged periods of use said fiber mat 16 should become clogged it may be either washed with a mild soap solution or discarded and a new one inserted. Either way, all that need be done is simply to unscrew the screw 50 from the air-receiving element 12, remove the fiber mat 16 from the metal washer 18, replace the fiber mat with either a new one or a clean one and then screw the whole device back together again. As mentioned the washer 18 is made of metal, and acts as a weight to keep the invention air stone down at the bottom of the aquarium where it is best placed. The air-receiving element 12 and base plate 14 are made of any suitable plastic material which can be readily molded to the desired shapes and sizes. Vertical ribs 74 may be provided along the peripheral edge of baseplate 14, shown in FIG. 4, as a decorative feature thereof.

Having thus described the fundamental novel features of the invention, as applied to a specific embodiment, it is understood that various changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit therefrom.

lclaim:

1. An improved air stone for an aquarium comprising an airreceiving element, a baseplate connected to said air-receiving element, the joinder of said baseplate and air-receiving element defining a plenum and a water insoluble generally annular-shaped fiber mat, containing a weight therein in concentric relation thereto, said fiber mat being disposed intermediate of said air-receiving element and said baseplate, said air stone being resultingly adapted to supply a uniform stream of air bubbles to the water contained in said aquarium when connected to an air supply with the result that uniform aeration of said aquarium is achieved, said air-receiving element comprising an air inlet tube, an air inlet aperture located therein, a shoulder portion located at the base of said air inlet tube, and a cap portion disposed at the base of said shoulder portion, said air inlet tube, said shoulder portion and said cap portion being integrally connected, said air inlet tube also being characterized as flaring outwardly towards its base juncture with said shoulder portion, so that when an air supply tube from said air supply is connected to said air inlet tube said air supply tube is held in airtight relationship therewith,

said air-receiving element having cloverleaf-shaped aperture disposed in said cap portion and extending into said shoulder portion from the face of said cap portion, said cloverleafshaped aperture defining three arc portions in circular relationship to each other in the central portion of said cloverleaf-shaped aperture.

2. An air stone according to claim I wherein said shoulder portion is hexagonal in shape.

3. An air stone according to claim 2 wherein cloverleafshaped aperture extends in the direction of three corners of said hexagonally shaped shoulder portions.

4. An improved air stone for an aquarium comprising an airreceiving element, a baseplate connected to said air-receiving element and a water insoluble generally annular-shaped fiber mat, containing a weight therein in concentric relation thereto, said fiber mat being disposed intermediate of said airreceiving element and said baseplate, said air stone being ada ted tosuppl a uniform stream of air bubbles to the water con med in sat aquarium, when connected to an arr supply,

said air-receiving element further comprising an air inlet tube, an air inlet aperture located therein, a shoulder portion located at the base of said air inlet tube, and a cap portion disposed at the base of said shoulder portion, said air inlet tube, said shoulder portion and said cap portion being integrally connected, said air inlet tube also being characterized as flaring outwardly towards its base juncture with said shoulder portion, so that when an air supply tube from said air supply is connected to said air inlet tube said air supply tube is held in airtight relationship therewith, said airreceiving element further having a cloverleaf-shaped aperture disposed in said cap portion and extending into said shoulder portion from the face of said cap portion, said cloverleafshaped aperture defining three arc portions in circular relationship to each other in the central portion of said Cloverleaf-shaped aperture, further comprising a generally cylindrically shaped element and a cap portion integrally connected thereto with an aperture defined in said cylindrical element extending into said cap portion and being centrally located in said cap portion, said air-receiving element, said weight having a central aperture, said are portions forming walls, said baseplate and said fiber mat being connected by threaded screw means having a tapered end which pass through said aperture in said cylindrical element and cap portion thereof, then further passing through said central aperture located in said weight and finally said screw means threading into the walls formed by said are portions of said Cloverleaf-shaped aperture to an extent sufiicient to allow the passage of air over said tapered end of said screw means, said air coursing downwardly through said air inlet aperture into said Cloverleaf-shaped aperture and thence outwardly through said fiber mat, finally emerging as unifonn air bubbles in said water from the periphery of said fiber mat with the result that uniform aeration of said aquarium is achieved.

5. An air stone according to claim 4 wherein said weight is a metal washer. 

1. An improved air stone for an aquarium comprising an airreceiving element, a baseplate connected to said air-receiving element, the joinder of said baseplate and air-receiving element defining a plenum and a water insoluble generally annular-shaped fiber mat, containing a weight therein in concentric relation thereto, said fiber mat being disposed intermediate of said airreceiving element and said baseplate, said air stone being resultingly adapted to supply a uniform stream of air bubbles to the water contained in said aquarium when connected to an air supply with the result that uniform aeration of said aquarium is achieved, said air-receiving element comprising an air inlet tube, an air inlet aperture located therein, a shoulder portion located at the base of said air inlet tube, and a cap portion disposed at the base of said shoulder portion, said air inlet tube, said shoulder portion and said cap portion being integrally connected, said air inlet tube also being characterized as flaring outwardly towards its base juncture with said shoulder portion, so that when an air supply tube from said air supply is connected to said air inlet tube said air supply tube is held in airtight relationship therewith, said air-receiving element having cloverleaf-shaped aperture disposed in said cap portion and extending into said shoulder portion from the face of said cap portion, said cloverleaf-shaped aperture defining three arc portions in circular relationship to each other in the central portion of said cloverleaf-shaped aperture.
 2. An air stone according to claim 1 wherein said shoulder portion is hexagonal in shape.
 3. An air stone according to claim 2 wherein cloverleaf-shaped aperture extends in the direction of three corners of said hexagonally shaped shoulder portions.
 4. An improved air stone for an aquarium comprising an air-receiving element, a baseplate connected to said air-receiving element and a water insoluble generally annular-shaped fiber mat, containing a weight therein in concentric relation thereto, said fiber mat being disposed intermediate of said air-receiving element and said baseplate, said air stone being adapted to supply a uniform stream of air bubbles to the water contained in said aquarium, when connected to an air supply, said air-receiving element further comprising an air inlet tube, an air inlet aperture located therein, a shoulder portion located at the base of said air inlet tube, and a cap portion disposed at the base of said shoulder portion, said air inlet tube, said shoulder portion and said cap portion being integrally connected, said air inlet tube also being characterized as flaring outwardly towards its base juncture with said shoulder portion, so that when an air supply tube from said air supply is connected to said air inlet tube said air supply tube is held in airtight relationship therewith, said air-receiving element further having a cloverleaf-shaped aperture disposed in said cap portion and extending into said shoulder portion from the face of said cap portion, said cloverleaf-shAped aperture defining three arc portions in circular relationship to each other in the central portion of said cloverleaf-shaped aperture, further comprising a generally cylindrically shaped element and a cap portion integrally connected thereto with an aperture defined in said cylindrical element extending into said cap portion and being centrally located in said cap portion, said air-receiving element, said weight having a central aperture, said arc portions forming walls, said baseplate and said fiber mat being connected by threaded screw means having a tapered end which pass through said aperture in said cylindrical element and cap portion thereof, then further passing through said central aperture located in said weight and finally said screw means threading into the walls formed by said arc portions of said cloverleaf-shaped aperture to an extent sufficient to allow the passage of air over said tapered end of said screw means, said air coursing downwardly through said air inlet aperture into said cloverleaf-shaped aperture and thence outwardly through said fiber mat, finally emerging as uniform air bubbles in said water from the periphery of said fiber mat with the result that uniform aeration of said aquarium is achieved.
 5. An air stone according to claim 4 wherein said weight is a metal washer. 